3 ‘forgotten’ Indiana vets buried at national cemetery

The cremated remains of World War II Army Cpl. Leo M. Valdez Jr. are carried in a military ceremony at Veterans Park in Zionsville, Ind., on Saturday. Valdez died in 1978; his family didn’t realize his remains had not been placed in a cemetery. <137>the cremains were in a cemetery. The Indiana chapter of Missing in America Project located Valdez’ cremains in a vault of Indianapolis-based Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers. The Missing in America Project worked with the Veterans Affairs Department to have Valdez and two other veterans interred at Marion National Cemetery in Marion, Ind.<137>(Photo: Eric Weddle/The Indianapolis Star)

INDIANAPOLIS – Three Indianapolis-area veterans, whose cremated remains went unclaimed for as long as 87 years, were laid to rest at Marion National Cemetery on Saturday.

The Indiana chapter of a nonprofit veterans group called the Missing in America Project, working in collaboration with the American Legion, researched and recovered the remains from the unclaimed storage vaults of Indianapolis-based Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers.

The veterans — Civil War Army Pvt. Hiram Maine, World War I Army Pvt. Forest Smith and World War II Army Cpl. Leo M. Valdez Jr. — all died years after their military service, but for various reasons their cremated remains were not claimed by relatives.

Bart Colvin, state Missing in America Project coordinator, said it’s important to seek out these remains and scour genealogical and military databases to find out who they were in order to give final respect to the nation’s forgotten heroes.

Flanner and Buchanan gave the volunteer group access to its records and crypt of unclaimed remains. The company operated Indiana’s first crematory.

The Veterans Affairs Department makes the final determination of whether a person’s remains can be interred at a national cemetery.

Dozens attended a military ceremony Saturday at Veterans Park in Zionsville, before the three veterans’ remains were escorted to Marion National Cemetery by American Legion Riders and other motorcyclists. Volleys were fired, a bugler performed taps and a large American flag hung from a firetruck.

“They were just a name until you hold these veterans in your hands. I’d like to say we became friends; they are quiet,” Colvin said. “But we all became very close.”

Maine, who died in 1927, was well known in the city for being an “independent thinker” who often wrote newspaper editorials, said Rick France of the Genealogical Society of Marion County, who researched each of the veterans.

Maine ran for lieutenant governor on the People’s Party ticket and also was arrested on federal charges for threatening a lawmaker.

Smith served in the European theater in 1918 in an air squadron, likely as part of the maintenance crew. He died in 1935.

Smith had family who lived outside of Indiana, but they did not claim his remains.

“He was apparently forgotten,” France said.

John Valdez said the fate of his father’s remains was much different.

Leo Valdez Jr. joined the Army shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was attached to an engineer unit and worked in Australia and New Guinea to build and maintain airfields.

When Valdez died in December 1978, a service was held and, per family tradition, his remains were cremated and were to be put into a vault.

The family has since learned of a “miscommunication” on the final arrangements, which caused Valdez’s remains to later be added to a Flanner and Buchanan crypt of more than 400 unclaimed remains.

John Valdez said he and his brother, sister and other family members were shocked when Colvin contacted them about their father.

“We are just overwhelmed by the support from everyone,” John Valdez said. “It is wonderful.”

Last year, the Missing in America Project identified the remains of Lt. Zuinglius K. McCormack and Pvt. Lycurgus McCormack, two brothers from Indiana who served in the Civil War. The McCormacks received a full-honors funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Since 2006, the organization has identified 3,125 veterans’ cremated remains and has inurned 1,855.